²³ So Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, and the Lord sent forth peals of thunder and hail.^(A) Lightning flashed toward the earth, and the Lord rained down hail upon the land of Egypt. ²⁴ There was hail and lightning flashing here and there through the hail, and the hail was so fierce that nothing like it had been seen in Egypt since it became a nation. ²⁵ Throughout the land of Egypt the hail struck down everything in the fields, human being and beast alike; it struck down all the vegetation of the fields and splintered every tree in the fields. ²⁶ Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were, was there no hail.

²⁷ Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said to them, “I have sinned this time! The Lord is the just one, and I and my people are the ones at fault. ²⁸ Pray to the Lord! Enough of the thunder^[a] and hail! I will let you go; you need stay no longer.”

³⁶ So he who had promised to provide tribute for the Romans by the capture of the people of Jerusalem proclaimed that the Jews had a champion, and that because they followed the laws laid down by him, they were unharmed.

³⁴ With these words he went away. The priests stretched out their hands toward heaven, calling upon the unfailing defender of our nation in these words: